This is just for fun. Not a balance discussion. These scenario’s are extreme, and are really just about how far you think you can take a setup.
For Cataclysm difficulty.
If you were fighting 20 elites, what hero, career and weapon/build would you want if you:
- Could not make use of any terrain features to make space or get the AI to climb
- Had no pots or bombs (can have 1 healing)
- Have plenty of space to kite (e.g. FOW or open field at the start of Against the Grain)
- Need to kill them quickly (not sure what time is reasonable but for 20 let’s say 45 seconds, so waiting for ult to recharge won’t work for long timers generally).
Generic examples:
Scenario 1: 100 Halberd Stormvermin.
Scenario 2: 50 Chaos Warriors.
Scenario 3: 150 Plague Monks.
Scenario 4: 65 Maulers.
Hit trading is valid if you think you would be alive at the end of it, even at 1 HP (that’s just efficiency anyway).
Does your answer change depending on the type of elites, or if it’s mixed? What if you don’t know what the elite composition will be? What about 50 elites, or 100?
My Choice
Personally, I find Riposte on WHC + Rapier to be reliable. Even with CWs, since it two shot crit headshots with just Assassin and the unlisted passive.
At max attack speed the pistol shot isn’t even needed on Berserkers, you can kind of just riposte and attack in between a lot of their attack intervals (not all ofc).
Mauler’s are dangerous but pistol shot 4-shot bodyshots them+resets parry window for riposte (lol no risk get free insta kill).
Riposte makes shielded SV easy to kill and a source of easy free crits. Normal SV will die one after another.
Bestigors are just armoured Mauler’s with easier to hit heads.
I would pick Zealot Flail though if I knew it was all shielded SV. Slow, but very steady.